What is a Junior Doctor? The Next Step Of Medicine

Junior Doctors have been all over the news, and if you’re applying for medicine, you’ll hopefully soon be one. In this guide, we’ll explore what a Junior Doctor actually is and how they progress through their career to become consultant.

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As prospective medical students, understanding the steps that are taken after your time in medical school is crucial. However, with so many terms and pathways it can be challenging to understand what they all mean.

One of these buzzwords is the term junior doctor, which often is misrepresented in everyday language. This is your go-to guide to help you understand what exactly a junior doctor is, what their roles are and why it’s been a topic of debate in recent years.

Written by Ayma Ahmed

What is a Junior Doctor?

Now, typically junior doctors are thought to be those who have just completed their medical degrees, and have just started working in the hospital. However, junior doctors encompass many different types of doctors.

On a broad scale, a junior doctor is someone who has completed their medical degree, and they can have up to 9 years of experience within a hospital (this is dependent on the type of medical speciality they are choosing to specialise in) or up to 5 years of working to become a general practitioner.

Types of Junior Doctor

So, a junior doctor isn’t just one title. There are a number of different titles for junior doctors that you will find in a hospital:

FY1

This stands for foundation year one doctor. These are doctors who have just completed their medical degree and are in their first year of working as a doctor. They carry out a number of roles from liaising with patients, nurses and relatives to aiding ward rounds to even helping teach medical students.

FY2

This stands for foundation year two doctors. These doctors will have completed their FY1 posts and are now in the second year after completing their medical degree. Their roles and responsibilities remain the same as with FY1’s. They will complete a total of 3 specialities across the year, switching across departments.

ST

This stands for speciality trainee. This is often accompanied by a number. For example, ST3 stands for the number of years they have spent in training. These are doctors who have begun their speciality training. The number of years that this lasts will vary from speciality to speciality

SpR

This stands for a speciality registrar in a hospital speciality. These are also doctors who are completing their speciality training. This is a pre-2005 term which is still commonly used today, which describes doctors carrying out their ST3-ST9 higher education training.

GPST

This stands for a speciality registrar in general practice. These are doctors who have opted to uptake training to become a general practitioner.

SHO

This stands for senior housing officer. This is also a pre-2005 term which is used to explain a number of different ranks including those who are FY2 and those completing ST1 or ST2.

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Doctors vs Junior Doctors

Now, as you can see, the term junior doctors encompasses a range of different types of doctors, who are all carrying out a range of different roles. But what sets these doctors apart from their seniors (who are known as consultants)?

Consultants have fully completed their medical training in their area of training and are often the ones who are leading their multi-disciplinary teams. Becoming a consultant leads to a high level of independence and expertise, which junior doctors can turn to for support regarding clinical decisions.

While consultants have completed their training and will generally have more experience and knowledge, these titles don’t specifically represent the skill of an individual. As a junior doctor, you’ll still be required to perform tough tasks and make important decisions, so don’t feel that you aren’t a valuable member of the team because of your rank.

Junior Doctor Contracts

When you become a junior doctor in the NHS, you are required to sign a contract which outlines the working terms as well as conditions for junior doctors. There are 2 editions of this, one being the outdated predecessor known as the 2002 Junior Doctor Contract and the other being the 2016 contract.

The contract itself covers a number of points such as transitional pay protection (which is a mechanism designed to help protect junior doctors’ salaries during the transition from the 2002 contract to 2016), maternity leave and the pay system for part-time trainees. This contract helps to ensure that your rights as a junior doctor are protected.

Changes to the contract have been key to controversies around junior doctors and their pay/working conditions, which has led to strikes in the field. Let’s take a look at this next…

Junior Doctors Controversy

You may have seen many news headlines mentioning junior doctors across the years and they have remained a topic of debate.

There have been a number of different things that have sparked these articles, but the most prominent are the junior doctor strikes. These are strikes that have been organised by the British Medical Association in regards to the pay of these doctors, with the most recent set of strikes occurring in 2024.

There has also been a recent action which will, in September 2024, switch the name of junior doctors to resident doctors. This was due to a number of reasons, including to ensure continuity between countries such as Australia, Canada and the USA, as well as to ensure that junior doctors’ expertise and knowledge within their field are not undermined.

Junior doctors will continue to be a hot topic in the NHS, even as the potential for a new pay deal from the 2024 Labour government becomes more likely. However, it’s an essential stage of any medical career, so it’s important to understand what it will entail.

I hope this guide has been useful to you. If you’re currently applying to medicine, we have plenty more guides about medicine and the medical school application process, so be sure to explore our selection to learn more about important topics.

The med school application process is tough, so you may also feel you want more comprehensive support. If so, discover our Medicine Mastery Bundle, which offers complete support for the whole process. Our UCAT Tutoring Bundles and Interview Tutoring Bundles offer more targeted support, but each bundle features everything you need to get through the medicine application process. Enquire today by booking a free consultation with our friendly team.

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